The e-wallet space is blowing up. Isis — an NFC-based mobile-payment platform backed by Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — is set to launch on Monday. Google Wallet, now almost two years old, is nicely maturing with partnerships with an ever-expanding list of big-name retailers. Apple’s Passbook feature coordinates with existing apps so coupons and gift cards are collected in a single place. Square is hitting the mainstream through a partnership with Starbucks that begins next month. And there are dozens, if not hundreds, of mobile payment and e-commerce apps that threaten to render cash and credit cards obsolete.

So one month ago, that got us thinking: How long before we could get by using just our smartphones as our wallets? How long before we could ditch that fat piece of folded leather stuffed to the breaking point with credit cards, IDs, transit passes, cash, and printed coupons? How long before we could rely on just apps and NFC? Has the day already arrived? For the past month, I’ve been trying to find out.

Wielding an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I loaded up on apps, got on board with Google Wallet, and left my real wallet at home. No cards, no cash. I’ve ordered everything from my Halloween costume to sushi to plane tickets — throughout the Bay Area and even for a vacation in Hawaii — using purely mobile means.

What I’ve found: Although we’re a long way from where we were even a few months ago, being able to live completely walletless is still a long ways off. There are just too many entrenched forces — primarily government agencies, mom-and-pop stores, and anyone who requires an ID — for this change to happen quickly. However, on the mobile payments front, it’s pretty darn doable (and in fact, enjoyable) — at least if you live in a major metropolitan area. And in a surprise consequence of this experiment, my effort to commute walletlessly re-introduced regular exercise to my routine, making me healthier and happier than before I began. If nothing else, those results made the whole thing worthwhile.

Lots of Options

Replacing credit cards and cash with mobile apps and services is surprisingly easy, though not without planning. Early in the month, particularly for breakfast, I’d forget that some of my go-to options (bagels in the Wired kitchen, for example) were cash-only and, thus, now off-limits. But I quickly adjusted. In general, I was pleased to discover a wide variety of mobile in-store purchasing and delivery options for restaurants and grocery stores. The only barrier when it came to food was my own laziness — but that’s nothing new. I regularly eat bagels for breakfast un-toasted because it takes too long, and will order delivery from a Chinese restaurant that’s only two blocks away.

Grocery shopping proved to be surprisingly easy. I used newcomer Instacart, currently a San Francisco-only option, to have bags of groceries delivered from Safeway straight to my door within three hours, all for a $4 delivery fee. Alternatively, I could tap my NFC-enabled Galaxy Nexus at the checkout at Whole Foods to grab my own organic foodstuffs using Google Wallet.

For in-restaurant dining, choices were more limited. LevelUp and Square Wallet were my main options. LevelUp, present at a few of some of my favorite dining destinations, quickly became a crutch when it came to in-store dining. And when it came to delivery or pick, the choices were overwhelming: GrubHub, Delivery.com, Eat24, GoPago, and OrderAhead were just few of the ones on my list. Participating establishments ranged from the family-owned taqueria around the corner to coffee shops, food trucks, and enterprising sit-down restaurants. Both the number of apps and the number of participating establishments seem to be growing daily.

Outside of the food industry, though, choices get a bit more limited. Large retailers like Macy’s, the Container Store, and Office Max accept Google Wallet, but I didn’t find any independent shops or local boutiques amid the myriad directory listings. Luckily, Amazon Mobile offers just about everything under the sun, shipped in a snap with Amazon Instant. For haircuts, Square Wallet’s directory lists around a dozen San Francisco salons. And for socializing, there were a handful of bars where I could pay my tab with apps LevelUp and BarTab (you know, as long as they didn’t card me). Services like Uber and InstantCab have you covered if you need a ride in a pinch, but I ended up primarily walking, biking, or driving.

Finding gas was a short-lived concern. Sunoco is the only gas station listed as a Google Wallet merchant, and there aren’t any of those within at least a 50-mile radius of the Bay Area. I sweated two consecutive days when I needed to commute down the peninsula for events and appointments, eyeing my gas gauge like a hawk until I realized Chevron accepts MasterCard PayPass, and, thus, Google Wallet. You see, MasterCard offers cards with an embedded NFC chip — the exact same type as in Google Wallet. Since Google Wallet is a partnership with MasterCard, you can use Google Wallet wherever PayPass is accepted, which broadens the usefulness of Google Wallet considerably.

Making travel arrangements was dead easy using the Orbitz app. For other types of transactions, like rent and payments to friends, I used Venmo or PayPal. Venmo was actually far preferable since it does not incur hefty processing fees. It has an almost game-like aspect as you can make or request payments back and forth without it actually being processed as a transaction — that is done when you tap a button to “cash out.”

Problems and Failing Points

I ran into only a few situations that were complete no-gos on the mobile front. Laundromats were one — they either take coins or a cash-filled card. I ended up hand-washing my clothes for the whole month. (A friend was quick to point out the irony in how my pursuit of future-leaning technology was setting me back 150 years in laundry care.) A planned visit to the doctor’s office also necessitated a card swipe. And despite the fact that I was able to reserve rental cars from my phone, actually picking them up, as I had to do while on vacation, required a card and valid ID. That likely won’t change anytime soon.

There were also issues with the technology as it currently stands. Multiple retail employees told me of issues with Google Wallet — sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I experienced this myself on two separate occasions, when NFC readers seemed to refuse to acknowledge my phone’s chip.

I also had problems with the Square Wallet app. More than once, I came upon places that were listed in the app’s directory but that did not actually accept it. One did not even have the card reader set up. The worst offenders were in Honolulu, where there was likely a discrepancy between the owner or manager who began setting up Square (or merely signed up for it) and employees who weren’t informed about how it works. In the Bay Area, there are tons of cafes, coffee shops, and other businesses where Square Wallet works seamlessly. On Oahu, not so much.

For app usage, smartphone battery life and internet connectivity were definite concerns. If either failed, well, I’d have no way to search or pay for anything. While on vacation in Hawaii, where I was relying on both the iPhone and Galaxy Nexus very heavily, I would recharge whenever I could get to an outlet. And although I haven’t had problems with LTE coverage, some businesses that use apps like LevelUp have had problems when they have no Wi-Fi connection, or if the app itself has server issues.

One thing I never mentioned previously was that I quit using the keycard that lets me into Wired for the whole month, it being a plastic card and all. With no mobile alternative, this meant I needed to call co-workers to let me in when I arrived in the morning, or rap on the door for someone to let me in at other points during the day. Funnily, this probably inconvenienced my co-workers more than it did me.

More seriously, the one thing in your wallet that is nowhere close to being replaced is your ID. For the full month, I tried to get by using only digital photos and videos of my real ID. As expected, bouncers were having none of it. During my airline travels, I was able to get through security without showing driver’s license, credit card, or other alternative forms of ID. It’s doable — I had checked with the TSA beforehand to make sure. But I certainly wouldn’t recommend it; it means you spend an extra 30 minutes or so going through security, being handled by people who’d much rather be doing something else.

Although I hope there will be some sort of verified mobile ID we could use in the future, I fear this will be the main barrier in being truly walletless for some time to come.

How and Why Retailers Go Mobile

Over the course of the past month, I wondered why some establishments jumped on the mobile bandwagon while others remained staunchly 20th century.

The benefits for businesses are twofold. Mobile options enable speedier, simpler transactions and more opportunities to gain revenue through a wider dining audience. In my experience, whipping out a phone instead of digging a card or cash from a purse or wallet can shave up to 10 or 20 seconds off the payment experience.

Indeed, local cafe Coffee Bar will use an employee armed with an iPad “as kind of a pressure-release valve,” operations manager Nathan Downs told Wired. Using Square and the Square Wallet app, anyone willing to pay for their lattes to go using Square and the Square Wallet app can hop into a mobile express check during peak hours, minimizing wait times for themselves and others.

But getting businesses on board is still a hurdle. San Francisco is the easiest place to go walletless because so many of the companies in this space are based in the Bay Area, meaning company representatives can go out to businesses in person to get them on board. Frjtz, a Belgian eatery in the city, is listed on GrubHub, GoPago, LevelUp, Stamped, OrderAhead, Seamless, Eat24, and LivingSocial, but for all but two of those (GrubHub and Seamless), someone met with Frjtz owner Santiago Rodriguez to set things up. Hawaii, far removed from Silicon Valley, seemed years behind when it came to mobile payments.

The End?

When I realized I’d reached the end of my month-long experiment, I asked friends and co-workers what I should do to commemorate my momentous final day. A big blow-out lunch, using Uber to go to a nicer, more distant LevelUp restaurant I hadn’t yet visited? An after-work gathering at a compatible bar? But something felt odd about having an “it’s over” party, and it took me a few hours to realize why: Although the 30-day experiment was over, I had already decided that I wasn’t going back to the way I was living before. I’m happier and healthier living this way.

As long as I have a compatible Android phone on hand, I’ll use Google Wallet for coffee, gas, groceries, and other purchases. For pick-up and delivery dinners, I’ll continue to tap through the apps on my iPhone to place orders, rather than call-in or pay with cash. For a lot of activities, living walletlessly is not only doable but more convenient. I also still plan to bike instead of bus for my daily commute to work. Indeed, one of the most unexpected outcomes of this experiment was an improvement in the quality of my overall lifestyle. Since I’m regularly exercising now, I’ve lost weight, feel more energetic, and am better controlling portion sizes in my meals.

Would I do it all over again? Absolutely. In fact, I’d love to repeat this purely walletless experience again in a year’s time, when some of these startups have grown or dropped off, and with NFC options getting more robust and Isis entering the mix.

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